A little back story may be necessary for you to understand the design. The Hobbit's baddy in the story is the dragon Smaug (pronounced smog) who dwells inside the Lonely Mountain guarding his hoard of treasure. In a nutshell 13 dwarves and little Bilbo Baggins is attempting to take back the treasure. Bilbo manages to get down into the mountain and with his magic ring to conceal himself he taunts the dragon with conversation. Smaug is no dummy and assumes Bilbo is one of the men from a nearby town found in the middle of a lake called “Laketown”.
Long story short Smaug decides he's had enough and attacks Laketown one evening. The villagers are armed with arrows and a great battle ensues. One man, Bard is their Captain. He is steadfast and brave and encourages the men to stand their ground though their town is literally burning down around them.
During the battle an old thrush lands upon Bard's shoulder and talks to him. Bard is surprised he can understand the bird but listens to his messages.
“Wait! Wait!” it said to him. “The moon is rising. Look for the hollow of the left breast as he flies and turns above you!”
Bard takes his trusted infamous black arrow, the same arrow that belonged to his forefathers and smote Smaug with great flourish and steam. Of course the story is more exciting if you read the words of the author but you will now understand the design of this block.
As you can see I have the dragons' eye on one side of the block. Dividing the piece in half is the black arrow and also represented is the thrush and moon. This design proved a challenge. Not so much because of the design itself but because the block purchased at Dick Blicks proved to be harder to carve than the Speedwell block from the store. At times I was afraid I'd cut to much off of the design and in some cases nearly did.
I'm please with how it came out. I like the primitive look it has taken on. For me it's about the plaining and executing of the project. I love the planning stages and working with the carving tools with their varied nibs. I did like having two knives going, one with a large gouge nib and the other with a narrow nib. I hope you like it too.
4 comments:
As a fellow Tolkien lover I think your concept and execution is spot on. To those of us familiar with The Hobbit I think your piece captures the tension and mystery present in that part of the story. Beautifully done.
This is outstanding! I love how you captured the dragon-as well as the story.
I love the way you've captured the essence of the story, LM - you've literally 'pared it down'. The marks in the background behind the bird keep it lively, too.
Thanks so much for your encouraging comments.They mean a lot to me.
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